THE SPRING BLOOM
Trace the white arrows that show how the water whirls nutrients up to the surface of the sea.
The water running under the iceberg is meltwater. What comes from the sea is salt water.
When the sun appears in springtime the ice breaks. The ice algae caught just below it start to bloom.
When this happens, the copepods rise up from the bottom and eat themselves fat in the nutritious plankton.
Where do the ice algae grow?
Where does the meltwater come from?
What do copepods eat?
Write or record the names of the animals you know in the picture.
What do they eat?
What is a food web?
In winter there is no or very little sunlight at Ilulissat. In spring the sun returns.
Some years the ice breaks early or there is no ice at all. Then the algae begin to bloom early.
The copepods having spent the winter at the bottom of the sea risk to rise up when the bloom is over. Then they are not in time to eat themselves fat.
What happens when the ice breaks, and the sun shines on the algae?
Where do copepods live in winter?
What does a copepod look like?
Trace the white arrows that show how the water whirls nutrients up to the surface of the sea.
The water running under the iceberg is meltwater. What comes from the sea is salt water.
When the sun appears in springtime the ice breaks. The ice algae caught just below it start to bloom.
When this happens, the copepods rise up from the bottom and eat themselves fat in the nutritious plankton.
Where do the ice algae grow?
Where does the meltwater come from?
What do copepods eat?
Write or record the names of the animals you know in the picture.
What do they eat?
What is a food web?
In winter there is no or very little sunlight at Ilulissat. In spring the sun returns.
Some years the ice breaks early or there is no ice at all. Then the algae begin to bloom early.
The copepods having spent the winter at the bottom of the sea risk to rise up when the bloom is over. Then they are not in time to eat themselves fat.
What happens when the ice breaks, and the sun shines on the algae?
Where do copepods live in winter?
What does a copepod look like?
